Hello again.
I got back from a nice week in the Outer Banks yesterday and have been catching up on things. Here are a few thoughts on what happened last week while I was gone.
- Jordan Fields is a nice pickup for Pitt. I think he looks like a really solid tackle and probably the top offensive line prospect in the class (although I think Shep Turk has a really high ceiling, too). I think it’s also notable that Fields picked Pitt despite taking two more official visits after seeing the Panthers in person. It’s always better to be the final visit, but in this case, Pitt made such a strong impression that the Panthers stayed on top through his visits to Kansas and Houston.
With Fields on board, the offensive line class should be more or less complete, barring a flip or a good option becoming available. Pitt didn’t really have any other tackles visit in June, so I don’t know if many other options are out there. But if they finish with Fields, Turk, Akram Elnagmi and Torian Chester, I think the staff will be content.
Obviously Elnagmi is a bit of a lottery ticket, but I think it’s okay to take a guy like that in this class after the staff signed five offensive line prospects last year (the current incoming freshman class). The volume of last year’s class gave the staff a little bit of wiggle room, assuming Jeremy Darveau is sold on the incoming freshmen.
Regardless, I think offensive line recruits are probably the most difficult to project. Unless you’re talking about the elite of the elite, there’s going to be a whole lot of projection on what an offensive line prospect will become, and even with those elite guys, there’s still some projection involved. So it’s probably always a good idea to take bigger classes of linemen.
To that end, Pitt has four current commitments and signed eight in the last two classes. Averaging four offensive line recruits per class over a three-year period seems like a good target. Given the amount of projection, you probably need those kinds of numbers since a decent percentage of guys likely won’t pan out.
- Fields wasn’t the only commitment last week. In something of a surprise - on a bunch of levels - Pitt also landed a commitment from Tallahassee long-snapper Henry Searcy. He wasn’t on my radar because 1) he’s a long-snapper, 2) he committed to Syracuse on July 2, and 3) he’s a long-snapper.
I’m not going to diminish the value of specialists. Even long-snappers. If you get a good long-snapper, you can be set for years and not have to worry about that spot. Pitt had that locked up with Cal Adomitis and seemingly expected a similar security with Byron Floyd before he decided to go into the transfer portal this past offseason (and landed at Buffalo).
The coaches brought in Nilay Upadhyayula as a transfer from UConn to take over for Floyd; he’s got two years of eligibility - this year and next year - but we’ll see if he decides to come back for one more year.
It appears the plan with Searcy is to redshirt as a walk-on in 2025 and then go on scholarship in 2026 (that’s what he told Jim). If that’s how it plays out, I would assume he’ll be the starter in 2026 and spend four years in that role - like I said, it’s nice to have that position locked up and not have to worry about it.
- The ACC Kickoff in Charlotte - colloquially known as “ACC media days” - starts next Monday and runs for four days. Will there be fireworks given the continued efforts of Florida State and Clemson to leave the conference? My guess is no. Conference commissioner Jim Phillips will certainly be asked about that topic, but I don’t see him saying anything inflammatory. And the FSU and Clemson interviews at the event will be coaches and players, who won’t wade into those waters.
If some reporters can get FSU or Clemson administrators on the record, there might be something to come out of that. And there are always off-the-record opportunities, but I doubt even those will amount to much.
We’ll get a few anonymously-sourced claims of “FSU and Clemson will be gone in 12 months” and we’ll get a few anonymously-sourced explanations of how and why that won’t happen, but the best that will come from all of that will be the game of finding out which reporters the ACC chose to deliver the message and which ones were selected by FSU and Clemson. I don’t think there will be a lot of overlap.
- We should find out soon which players Pitt sends as representatives. I think Donovan McMillon and Gavin Bartholomew are the most likely candidates. It will be interesting if Nate Yarnell gets thrown in, too. Either way, guys like McMillon and Bartholomew should be good representatives for the Panthers.
- I was looking at Pitt’s online roster today to see if it had been updated to include the new freshmen. It hasn’t - I’m guessing that will probably be released next Monday - but there was one thing that caught my eye. Alex Kline was promoted to Director of College Scouting.
Kline has been in Pitt’s recruiting department for the last two years (and he was a quality control assistant in 2018 before spending a few years at Akron and Memphis). I’m not sure when the promotion to director of college scouting happened - his bio only says it was in 2024 - but I think it’s notable to see Pitt add this position.
We all know that scouting college players is a full-time job these days, so anytime there are tangible moves made to adjust to the current environment, it’s interesting to me. I think Kline is a smart young guy with local roots, and now he’s in charge of a pretty important piece of the roster management puzzle.
- A quick note/reminder on board moderation policies: we try to keep a pretty tight lid on political discussions. On some rare occasions, there is a political connection with Pitt-related topics - if there were federal NIL legislation or something like that - but in almost every instance, discussions that veer into politics end up earning a deletion.
So most of the time we default to killing the thread before it goes too far. It’s not about one side or the other; it’s about maintaining some level of civility on the board (or, at the very least, keeping the uncivil discussion to Pitt-related topics).
I’m not going to claim that we only talk about Pitt sports on the board. There are plenty of off-topic discussions, particularly at this time of year. And I realize that off-topic discussions are, in a way, a testament to the health of the board: there’s a real community here, and while the origin of the community is in a single interest - Pitt sports - as the community grows, it will inevitably look to discuss more beyond that single interest.
That’s great, and it’s oftentimes a lot of fun.
But the political conversations aren’t fun and they’re not good for the community. Maybe they never were, but in the last few years - you can pick your own origin point - it has become strikingly clear that it’s best to be avoided entirely.
So that’s what we do. That’s the policy. I am not inclined to discuss the policy here on the board, but if you have questions, comments, concerns or complaints, feel free to reach out to me directly via email or private message.
- One last note: I’m sure governmental matters will come up again soon, because I’ve heard that the recently-passed state budget actually has some NIL-relevant components that will change the structure of things for collectives and universities in Pennsylvania.
I got back from a nice week in the Outer Banks yesterday and have been catching up on things. Here are a few thoughts on what happened last week while I was gone.
- Jordan Fields is a nice pickup for Pitt. I think he looks like a really solid tackle and probably the top offensive line prospect in the class (although I think Shep Turk has a really high ceiling, too). I think it’s also notable that Fields picked Pitt despite taking two more official visits after seeing the Panthers in person. It’s always better to be the final visit, but in this case, Pitt made such a strong impression that the Panthers stayed on top through his visits to Kansas and Houston.
With Fields on board, the offensive line class should be more or less complete, barring a flip or a good option becoming available. Pitt didn’t really have any other tackles visit in June, so I don’t know if many other options are out there. But if they finish with Fields, Turk, Akram Elnagmi and Torian Chester, I think the staff will be content.
Obviously Elnagmi is a bit of a lottery ticket, but I think it’s okay to take a guy like that in this class after the staff signed five offensive line prospects last year (the current incoming freshman class). The volume of last year’s class gave the staff a little bit of wiggle room, assuming Jeremy Darveau is sold on the incoming freshmen.
Regardless, I think offensive line recruits are probably the most difficult to project. Unless you’re talking about the elite of the elite, there’s going to be a whole lot of projection on what an offensive line prospect will become, and even with those elite guys, there’s still some projection involved. So it’s probably always a good idea to take bigger classes of linemen.
To that end, Pitt has four current commitments and signed eight in the last two classes. Averaging four offensive line recruits per class over a three-year period seems like a good target. Given the amount of projection, you probably need those kinds of numbers since a decent percentage of guys likely won’t pan out.
- Fields wasn’t the only commitment last week. In something of a surprise - on a bunch of levels - Pitt also landed a commitment from Tallahassee long-snapper Henry Searcy. He wasn’t on my radar because 1) he’s a long-snapper, 2) he committed to Syracuse on July 2, and 3) he’s a long-snapper.
I’m not going to diminish the value of specialists. Even long-snappers. If you get a good long-snapper, you can be set for years and not have to worry about that spot. Pitt had that locked up with Cal Adomitis and seemingly expected a similar security with Byron Floyd before he decided to go into the transfer portal this past offseason (and landed at Buffalo).
The coaches brought in Nilay Upadhyayula as a transfer from UConn to take over for Floyd; he’s got two years of eligibility - this year and next year - but we’ll see if he decides to come back for one more year.
It appears the plan with Searcy is to redshirt as a walk-on in 2025 and then go on scholarship in 2026 (that’s what he told Jim). If that’s how it plays out, I would assume he’ll be the starter in 2026 and spend four years in that role - like I said, it’s nice to have that position locked up and not have to worry about it.
- The ACC Kickoff in Charlotte - colloquially known as “ACC media days” - starts next Monday and runs for four days. Will there be fireworks given the continued efforts of Florida State and Clemson to leave the conference? My guess is no. Conference commissioner Jim Phillips will certainly be asked about that topic, but I don’t see him saying anything inflammatory. And the FSU and Clemson interviews at the event will be coaches and players, who won’t wade into those waters.
If some reporters can get FSU or Clemson administrators on the record, there might be something to come out of that. And there are always off-the-record opportunities, but I doubt even those will amount to much.
We’ll get a few anonymously-sourced claims of “FSU and Clemson will be gone in 12 months” and we’ll get a few anonymously-sourced explanations of how and why that won’t happen, but the best that will come from all of that will be the game of finding out which reporters the ACC chose to deliver the message and which ones were selected by FSU and Clemson. I don’t think there will be a lot of overlap.
- We should find out soon which players Pitt sends as representatives. I think Donovan McMillon and Gavin Bartholomew are the most likely candidates. It will be interesting if Nate Yarnell gets thrown in, too. Either way, guys like McMillon and Bartholomew should be good representatives for the Panthers.
- I was looking at Pitt’s online roster today to see if it had been updated to include the new freshmen. It hasn’t - I’m guessing that will probably be released next Monday - but there was one thing that caught my eye. Alex Kline was promoted to Director of College Scouting.
Kline has been in Pitt’s recruiting department for the last two years (and he was a quality control assistant in 2018 before spending a few years at Akron and Memphis). I’m not sure when the promotion to director of college scouting happened - his bio only says it was in 2024 - but I think it’s notable to see Pitt add this position.
We all know that scouting college players is a full-time job these days, so anytime there are tangible moves made to adjust to the current environment, it’s interesting to me. I think Kline is a smart young guy with local roots, and now he’s in charge of a pretty important piece of the roster management puzzle.
- A quick note/reminder on board moderation policies: we try to keep a pretty tight lid on political discussions. On some rare occasions, there is a political connection with Pitt-related topics - if there were federal NIL legislation or something like that - but in almost every instance, discussions that veer into politics end up earning a deletion.
So most of the time we default to killing the thread before it goes too far. It’s not about one side or the other; it’s about maintaining some level of civility on the board (or, at the very least, keeping the uncivil discussion to Pitt-related topics).
I’m not going to claim that we only talk about Pitt sports on the board. There are plenty of off-topic discussions, particularly at this time of year. And I realize that off-topic discussions are, in a way, a testament to the health of the board: there’s a real community here, and while the origin of the community is in a single interest - Pitt sports - as the community grows, it will inevitably look to discuss more beyond that single interest.
That’s great, and it’s oftentimes a lot of fun.
But the political conversations aren’t fun and they’re not good for the community. Maybe they never were, but in the last few years - you can pick your own origin point - it has become strikingly clear that it’s best to be avoided entirely.
So that’s what we do. That’s the policy. I am not inclined to discuss the policy here on the board, but if you have questions, comments, concerns or complaints, feel free to reach out to me directly via email or private message.
- One last note: I’m sure governmental matters will come up again soon, because I’ve heard that the recently-passed state budget actually has some NIL-relevant components that will change the structure of things for collectives and universities in Pennsylvania.
